Can-capping machine



Mar. e5, 1923. 1&473596 B. E. TAYLQR CAN CAPPING MACHINE Filed July 24:, 1920 Patented Mar. 6, 1923.

UMEED STATES career ine.

BURT E. TAYLOR, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE BORDEN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N.'.Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CAN-CAPPING MACHINE.

Application filed July 24, 1920. Serial No. 398,761.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BURT E. TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mount Vernon, county of Westchester, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Can- Capping Machines, of which the following is a specification. a My present invention relates to improvements in machines adapted to assist in the capping,'sometimes hermetic, of metallic cans, of well-known types usually employed as'containers of liquid, or semi-liquid goods,

as for example condensed or concentrated mi1k,etc., such cans being usually cylindrical and their heads containing a relatively small therewith concentric opening closable by a metallic cap which after being positioned with relation to said opening is cr'imped, or distorted, to produce a tight joint or seam with the material ofthe can surrounding the opening; L

Hitherto cans and caps of the class referred to have been largely employed of forms, andconstruction, such as are dis closed, for example, in U. S. Letters Patent No. 757 ,842 to Frank Rogers, 'or No. 1,188,-

639 to Le Roy Fish (see particularly Figures 11 and 12 of the drawings of the latter) and have beenunited or sealed by aid of such means as are disclosed in the former, the. metalnof the 'head of the can being shaped so as to provide, circumferentially of said opening, a continuous ,neckflange projecting outwardly at right angles from the surface of.the head, and the metallic cap comprising a therefrom shaped, correspondingly, circumferentially,- continuous therefrom outwardly flaring flange which when the'cap has been positioned in the opening or neck? overlies the neck flange. and isthereafte'r crimp'ed down. upon and into continuous close contact'with the latterto .produce the seal. and thus the capping of the can. Uniform; imparta'tion of. required stren h and inte 't to said neck 'flan es fi' y g has" proved diflicu tain" and expensive, relatively costly metal and perfectly operating dies being indispensable to prevent too many leaks from cracking of theneckflan es .m their maki 1- during the crimping. The devices and undesirably unc'er-' does importantly obviate the referred to disadvantages of previous procedures, and its aforesaid objects I attain by aid, for example, of the mechanisms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation, parts of which are shown in central vertical section, of the principal parts of an apparatus designed to crimp'the caps as per my invention and showing sim-ilarly'a can and also a cap p0- sitioned in the opening of the latter.

Figure 2 is, on enlarged scale, a view partly in section and partly in elevation of my crimper and its actuatlng spreading or wedge member. A Figure 3 is, on still larger scale, a central section of my'preferred novel form of cap. Figure 4 is a similar view of said cap and of a fragment of the can and can head showing the cap positioned prior to its being crimped.

Figurefi is a plan View of my crimping tool viewed from the bottom thereof.

Figure 6 is a View, partly in elevation and partly in central section, illustrative of the relative positions of the can, the cap, and

of my crimper just prior to the beginning of the crimping operation.

Figure 7 is, on enlarged scale, a view il lustrative of the-relative positions of the parts at the close of the crimping operation, the cap and a portion of'the can being in this figure shown in central section, part of the wedge in elevation, and also a half of the lower part of my crimper.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar arts throughout the several figures. 'y crimping tool proper, indicated comof the bore 9'.

prehensivelyas 8, is of longitudinally 'extended c lindrical form. and comprises a rigid bo y portion, 9, having a therewith concentric bore, 9., and a relatively expandible extension, 10, composed of a plurality of mutually separated, or slightly spaced-. apart, outwardly and"; inwardly movablev members or fingers, 10', having their. free ends normally relatively closely approximatedto each other as shown, and containing between them atapered extension," 10", The tool is preferably unitary and metallic, the fingers being dimensioned and positioned, as shown, so as to possess yield and resilience transversely of the longitudinal [axis of the tool. They are preferabl produced by appropriately slitting the s des of the extension 10, and

thus serve .to partially enclose the tapered extension 10". Each of these fingers carries adjacent its free end an outwardly presented crimper blade, or crimping edge, 11, and also, in a plane apart, from and in parallelism with theplane of said edge an outwardly projecting retaining flange 12.

the drawings and as iifpreferable and usual- 1y important, the su ace of the crimping blade is inclined relatively ,to the thereto opposite surface of the flange, thereby proyiding an inwardly extending and contract mg space, or recess, between thesaid. sur-.-.

faces for therein reception of metal of-the can top and ,of the thereon to be crimped metal of the cap when the fingers are forced outwardly 'ashereinafter described, the re sult being that mid metals are then progressively pressed, or clamped, together there contributing to the air-tightness of the joint. It follows that my tool maybe said to carry a lurality. of cooperating crimping edges an of therewith co-operating reta' flanges simultaneously mow able radially, outwardly and-inwardly rela-. tively to its central longitudinal axis. It

will also be noted that, as is preferable in most cases, the surfaces of the flanges which are opposite'to the said inclined surfaces of the crimping blades are located more angularly, in this instance normally, in a plane at right angles, to said axis and that consequently the outward movement of the retaining flanges, 12, smoothes or as it were irons out, the peripheral edges or flanges of the caps, radially outwardly inconformity with the. underlying parts or tops of the cans thereby perfecting completeness of contact and improvmg appearance. To impart outward movement to the crimping edges and simultaneously and equally to the retaining flanges, I provide a spreader arbor, or wedge, 13, longitudinally reoiprocatable within said bores and preferably correspondinglydimens'oned and having a complementarily tapered portion 13 as shown predetermined, require in Figure 2. I provide means to support my crimper tool and means'to support a can 14 with their respective central longitudinal axes in register and in such fashion that theone may be, while so positioned, relatively movable;toward and fromv the other. In the present instance, in which the can is so movable towards the relatively thereto stationary crimper tool,- I support the can'upon a reciprocatable block, or table, 15, carried by a threaded spindle,.16 (Fig. 1) suitably transversely rotatably sup ported and screwed upwardly or downwardly by any well known means (not shown) so as to raise, or move, the can'to required degree towards the crimping tool, as, hereinafter described. The toolis, relatively to said table, stationarilycarried by any appropriate frame, 17, to which it is secured in any convenient man ner. Anarm, 17, of the frame 17, carries, pivotally connected therewith as' at 18 a lever,-

13, carries'a block, 21, within which passing through .a therein slot, 22, is rockably held by a pivot, 22', the lever, 19 the construction being such thatro'cking ofthe lever will impart reciprocation to the arbor, or wedge, 13 within, and longitudinally of, my crimping tool. i r

To arrest the reciprocatory downward movement of'the wedge, or arbor. 13, at a point, I provide in the path of the lever, 19, an adjustable stop, 23, consisting, in this instance, of, as 'shown,-a screw bolt, revolubly carried by, and projectingabove, the frame 17 by turning the head, 23', of which the height of the operative end of the stop is adjustable to check,.or arrest, 19, and thus the downward movement of the wedge, or spreading arbor, 13.-

''The importance, if not indispensability, of my said stop so'constructed as to thus permit of micrometric adjustment of the range of the above described outward move= ments of my crimpingblades and therewithassociated flanges, follows from the fact that unless thus very exactly adjusted according to varying thickness of caps and cans there is danger of their becoming jammed in the inwardly contractingabove described recesses between the blades and the flanges. I I

The cap, designated in its entirety by 24,

is of the form and construction above re-..

crimping 19," having a handle, 20. The untapered upper portion of the arbor, or Wedge, It will benoted that as shown in Fig. 20fthe descent of the lever.

ferred to, being usually of metallic compositiofl, for example of sheet metal, and con-. sisting principally of a disc-like body portion, 24', to which has been preferably imparted a concavo-convex, or dished, conformation, as shown, and a therefrom extending annularneck, 24f (dimensioned to closely fit the usual, relatively small, circular opening, 14,;in thehead of, and concentric with, the can 14) and surrounded by the usual therefrom outwardly flaring annular flange, 24".

Operation: The cap is positioned in the opening in the head of the can as shown'in Figures 1, 4, etc. The can 14, being posr tioned upon the table 15 in the above described relation to the central longitudinal axis of the crimping tool, is raised by turning the spindle 16 until the above described crimping edges, 11, have been brought below the level of the head, 1.4:, i. e., brought within the interior of the can and consequently also down into the neck of the cap so that the crimping edges are radially forcible simultaneously at a plurality of points against the interior of said neck. The position of the parts at this stage is indicated in Figure 6 of the drawings. It will be noted that the relation of the projecting flanges 12 relatively'to the crimping is predeterminedly such that, at this stage,

the flanges bear directly upon the top of the flange 24 of the cap, thereby holding it firmly inposition. The operator then depresses the handle 20 of the lever 19, whereby the wedge, or arbor, 13, is forcibly pushed downward, thereby spreading the therewith contacted fingers 10', and correspondingly, simultaneously and equally forcing the crimping edges against the neck, 2 1", of the cap. The construction and posi tioning of the parts is such that this results in distorting, swaging, or crimping the neck of the cap as indicated in Figure 7, thereby producing a joint'or seam between the cap and the head of the can so tight and effective as normally to be hermetic.

The simplicity, economy and durability of my apparatus and of its constituent elements, particularly the crimping fingers and edges, is great as will be obvious from the above references to the prior art. It will be understood that my above described crimping tools may be operated by other than hand power, and also in groups simul-- taneously upon pluralities of caps and cans," and that my invention is not limited to the particular forms and construction shown in the drawings.

The above referred to impartation of a dished, or concavo-convex form of the bottom or body-portion, 24', of the cap constitutes a part of my invention, as I believe this to be novel and of importance in aid of producing a seal of the hermetic character described and with minimum risk of injury to the cap. The surplus material provided by the form referred to supplies to the cap what is required to complete most effectually the seam and results in the impartation of an improved appearance to the final product,

thebody portion of the cap being brought crimping tool comprising a plurality of outwardly expandible resilient fingers, each carrying in one plane adjacent its free end an outwardly presented, crimping blade, and

also, in another plane, less adjacent to said free end, an outwardly extending cap-retaining, and ironing, flange; means to force and retain said flanges against the top of the cap; and means to meanwhile force the fingers outwardly, whereby a part of the cap is retained in place and smoothed or ironed bythe flanges while another part of the cap is being distorted by the crimping blades.

2. In apparatus for securing metallic caps to metallic cans, a. cap-holding, ironing, and

crimping tool comprising a plurality of outwardly expandible resilient fingers, each carrying in one plane adjacent its free end an outwardly presented crimping blade, and also, in another plane, less adjacent to said free end, an outwardly extending cap-retaining, and ironing, flange, having its operative surface disposed in a plane at right angles to the-central longitudinal axis of the tool; means to force and retain said flanges against the top of the cap; and means to meanwhile force the fingers outwardly.

3. In apparatus for securing metallic caps to metallichans, a cap-holding, ironing, and crimping tool comprising a'plurality of outwardly expandible resilient fingers, each carrying in one plane adjacent its free end an outwardly presented crimping blade, having an operative surface disposed in a plane inclined to the central longitudinal axisof the tool, and also, in another plane, less adjacent to-said fr ee end, an outwardly extending cap-retaining, and ironing, flange,

having its operative surface disposed in a plane angular to said first mentioned plane means to force and retain said flanges againstthe top of the cap; and means to meanwhile force the fingers outwardly.

4. In an apparatus for securing metallic caps to metallic cans, a cap-holding, ironing. and crimping tool comprising a plurality of resilient outwardly movable fingers each carrying adjacent its free end an outwardly presented crimping blade and also a therefrom spaced-apart more outwardly extending retaining flange; means to position and hold the caps in contact with said flanges;

and means to force the fingers outwardly whereby the cap is retained in place and portions thereof are smoothed or ironed by the flanges and simultaneously distorted by the blades.

5, In apparatus for securing metallic caps to metallic cans, a cap-holding, ironing, and

crimping tool comprising a plurality of fingers movable outwardly from the central longitudinal axis of said bore and each carrying an outwardly extending flange having a flat operative surface normally disposed in a plane angular to the central longitudinal axis of the here; means to posienR'r E. Myron. 

